Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was born in 1835 in Missouri along the Mississippi River. After his father died when he was 12, Clemens worked as a printer and began writing stories at age 17. He worked as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi in 1858 but later became a Confederate soldier and newspaper reporter in San Francisco. Under the pen name Mark Twain, he wrote famous novels about growing up along the Mississippi, including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Twain traveled widely in the United States and Europe and became a renowned public speaker later in life before passing away in 1910.

1. Mark Twain

2. Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Leghorn Clemens. He was born in 1835 in a small town in Missouri, on the Missippi River.

5. When he was twelve, his father died, and he went to work for a printer. He began writing humorous stories when he was seventeen.

6. 19 th Century Printing Office

7. He became a pilot (or driver) of steamboats on the Mississippi River in 1858.

9. When the War Between the States stopped boats from traveling on the river, Clemens became a soldier in the southern army.

10. Confederate soldier

11. But he soon left the army, and in 1861 he went out west to look for gold and adventure. There, he became a newspaper reporter.

12. San Francisco in the 1800’s

13. In 1863 he began writing under the name of Mark Twain. (“Mark Twain” was a phrase used on riverboats to mean “12 feet (4 yards) deep.”)

14. In 1866, Twain moved to Connecticut, where he wrote the books that made him famous.

16. Mark Twain’s home in Connecticut

17. He is best known today for his two novels about boys growing up in small towns along the Mississippi: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

18. Illustration From the first edition of Tom Sawyer

19. Illustration From the first edition of Huckleberry Finn

20. Twain traveled widely in the United States and Europe. In the last years of his life, he became famous as a public speaker.

22. He died in 1910.

23. “ Tom Whitewashes the Fence” is part of the novel Tom Sawyer.

24. Here is some vocabulary for Tom Whitewashes the Fence:

25. whitewash

26. whitewash bucket = pail

27. whitewash a water pump

28. whitewash We use the same word for a modern gas pump.

29. marbles

30. treasure

31. kite

32. toy soldiers

33. firecrackers

34. orange peel